WHAT HAPPENED: The best summer of Lloyd Harris’ life continues.
The South African notched his latest career-best result on Monday afternoon, beating 22nd seed Reilly Opelka of the U.S., 6-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3, to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2021 US Open.
The 24-year-old Harris broke the big-serving Opelka six times and, against the biggest server in the game, Harris was the one dominating with his first shot.
Harris out-aced Opelka (36 to 24) and won 92% (70/76) of his first-serve points.
“What an unbelievable feeling this is,” Harris said. “I thought I played a really good first set. Right from the start, I was returning well, getting on his serves, and throughout the match I served really well… After that first set not going my way, I just had to stay confident and kept on building.”
Harris will next meet fourth seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, who dismissed Italy’s Jannik Sinner, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6, for his 15th consecutive win, dating back to his Tokyo Olympics gold medal run. Zverev has won both of their meetings, including a 7-6, 6-2 win en route to his Cincinnati title last month.
“I think I can take a lot of positives out of that match,” Harris said. “I think I’ve been playing better and better as time has gone on.”
Both Harris and Opelka were playing in their first Grand Slam fourth round, and the South African applied the pressure from the start. In the first game, Harris saw six break points, all of which were saved by Opelka, who hit six aces to hold.
The six break points, however, were more than Opelka had faced in any of his previous matches.
Harris eventually broke at 4-4 but double-faulted three times to hand the break right back, and Opelka blasted a forehand to take the first-set tie-break.
“It was difficult because he played a superb tiebreaker. I think he came up with some crazy good points,” Harris said. “I just had to keep my head in the game.”
In the second set, Opelka saved three more break points from love-40 down at 1-2. But with Opelka serving at 4-5, Harris broke through with a backhand pass to even the match.
From there, he ran away with their second head-to-head meeting, increasingly turning it into a baseline affair as he returned more and more of Opelka’s serves. For the match, Harris put 50% of Opelka’s first serves in play.
“I just had to mix up my return position, stay further back, come in, try to give him some different looks, and it seems like it paid off,” Harris said.
He finished with 62 winners to only 16 unforced errors.
WHAT IT MEANS: Harris is coming into his own at the 2021 US Open. The Dubai finalist beat No. 3 Rafael Nadal about a month ago en route to the quarterfinals in Washington, D.C., for the biggest win of his career.
Now the South African has put together his best Grand Slam run, behind his straight-sets win against seventh seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada and his comprehensive victory against Opelka.
How he’s doing it should also make others take note. Harris is serving well, returning well, and moving well. The 6-foot-4 right-hander has the power of a big man but the athleticism of someone a few inches shorter.
MATCH POINT: Harris is the first South African man to reach the US Open quarterfinals since Kevin Anderson in 2015 and 2017.
